Union Street, Main Street, Union Wharf.
This map is derived from part of a December 1914 map of Vineyard Haven made by the Sanborn Map Company of New York.
Numbers and KEY added by Stan Lair, c. 1980.
KEY.
Notes in Quotation Marks by Stan Lair, c. 1980.
198. "E. St. Croix Oliver - Ship Chandler + Grocer - Cor. of Union + Water St."
"The Captain St. Croix Oliver house, and I believe it's now owned by the Lambert Knight family."
[1907 Directory: "Oliver, E. St. Croix, ship chandler and grocer, Union, cor. Water, h. Main."]199. "Charles Hamilton - Boat Builder - Part of the M. V. National Bank."
200. "The Martha's Vineyard National Bank - John E. White President."
201. "Wilfred E. Godfrey - Josiah Mayhew - Earl Wade. (drive In Bank Location."
"Earl Wade and his mother lived there. Later it was Josiah Mayhew and his family. That'd be Arthur Mayhew, Emma Mayhew, and there was quite a few boys. And Bill Shannon lived there for a while. Then it became a law office. Harry Pearlstein was there, lawyer, and John Nichols. That was located where the present drive-in bank is. It was moved from there to Andrews Road."
[1907 Directory: "Godfrey, Wilfred E., gents' furnishings, Main, h. Union." Ad, p. 96.]202. "Walter Renear Stable -- Cromwell Hardware - Ginter Store - Ben Franklin."
"Renear's Livery Stable, as I remember it. Later the site of Cromwell Hardware. The building was built by Benjamin Cromwell and designed by Charlie Barnett, who was a expert on concrete, also engineered our standpipe. What else did he build? Oh - Renear's Garage. And this Cromwell Hardware store also housed a Ginter store, which was a forerunner of the First National. There were bowling alleys in the basement, and it is now the Ben Franklin store. The Barnacle Club is upstairs.
The next building was Walter Renear Real Estate, later E. H. Manter Shoe Store, and then a barber shop. Now it is Wendway health food store."
[1907 Directory: "Renear, Walter H., real estate, livery, etc." Ad, p. 92.]203. "Lane's Block + Drug Store - Telephone Office - Dr. Charles F. Lane."
233. "George Armsby Plumbing Shop"
"Armsby's Plumbing Shop, and then it was Willis Hancock's Plumbing. That was there for a long time. ... I believe the Armsby Plumbing Shop was torn down - I can't quite recall actually what did happen to it."
[1907 Directory: "Armsby, George F., plumbing and heating, Union, h. Main, bey. Bethel ave."]234. "The Luxemoor Leather Factory -- Moved to the Five corners and is now the Ocean Club Restaurant."
"A large building built by William Barry Owen, called the Luxemoor Building. Mr. Owen met a Mr. Moore, who had a patent for embossing leather, and they started this project, but I don't think it lasted too, too long. We used to play basketball in this building, a good many years ago. It's none too good a place to play basketball but we had to play there. The timbers ran right across the hall and we had to shoot the ball over them, and on each end there was like chicken wire, to protect the spectators from getting hurt, but it didn't help the players much 'cause plenty of them were hurt on that chicken wire - cut fingers and so forth. Also on the second floor was a Customs Office, operated by Howes Norris. This building was later moved to a site near the Dukes County Garage."
[1907 Directory: "Luxemoor Co., William Barry Owen, pres., William H. Robinson, treas. and sect., Main.
Luxemoor Co., The, carving of leather, Main."]235. "Celestino Oliver (Rose Gouveia) The building moved to Look St."
236. "Willie Davis and his mother -- The building was moved to Look St."
237. "Jason 'Jake' Luce -- Emma Luce and Marion Luce."
"The Jake Luce house. That was Ethel, Marion, and Emma Luce, and they were brought up here. Lived there for a long time. I don't know what ever happened to the house. I have an idea it may have been torn down."238. "The Nobnocket Club with Bath Houses under. It was moved back from the beach by Annie Gonyon and is now Rudolph Stam's."
"The Nobnocket Club. This was a club that had bath houses underneath, meeting place on the second floor where they played cards and so forth, had a pier, very popular pier for bathers, also had an orchestra for dancing. They played for dancing all over the Island, I guess. The orchestra consisted of Alton Tuckerman (he was on the bass), Carey Luce, violin, Fred Peakes, trumpet or cornet, and Roy Norton on the piano. Alaric Swift had played with them at times with drums - I recall seeing them there set up at the Nobnocket Club. So, that was the old Nobnocket Orchestra. There was an old cat boat on the beach, on it's side, sort of in front of this Nobnocket Club. There used to be a place where the bathers could lie in the shade, and kids could play in the boat, and all that sort of thing. This building was moved back a little bit from the beach site and was remodeled by Annie Gonyan. A restaurant operated there at one time, and now it is the home of Rudolph Stan."
[1907 Directory: "Nobnocket Club, off Main."]239. "The St. Croix Oliver Bath Houses"
"Another set of bath houses, owned by Captain St. Croix Oliver. These were strictly bath houses, nothing else. I could rent a bath house for the season, or whatever."240. "George Swain owned this building -- later a Pool Room run by Clarence Ward. -- American Railway Express run by John and Laura Johnson. And is now a Bicycle Rental Shop."
"The George Swain Building. It was a pool room at one time, operated by Clarence Ward. Later the American Railway Express. I believe Allen's Express was in there first, then American Railway. The office was run by Laura and John Johnson. Now it is a bike shop."240B. "Fischer Brothers Store Marine Supplies Gasoline Pump -- Albert Fischer."
"Fisher Brothers' Store, run by Albert Fisher. It carried marine supplies and hardware, also had a gas pump. That was there for a good many years. He had two old International Harvester cars, about 1911 vintage, and both were painted dark brown. They had big wagon wheels and truck bodies. They were cranked from the side, and what they looked like was a converted wagon."
[1907 Directory: "Fischer Bros., (Albert O. Fischer), Union, boneless fish, paints, oils, and marine railways, h. Centre, n. William." Ad, p. 116.]241. "The Coopers Shop -- Albert Fischer - 2nd floor was a dried Codfish packing shop ('Boat Brand') = Frank Cleveland packer - John Conroy's Fish Market -- The Double Decker Restaurant -- Roy Luce Candy Kitchen. The building was moved up Union St. to the location of the former Armsby Plumbing Shop -- It is now The Great American Ice Cream Co. and The Hungry U."
"A building on what is now the Steamship Authority parking lot. It was then owned by Mr. Fisher, and he used it at that time to pack salt codfish. It was packed in one-pound wooden boxes, and called Boat Brand, I believe, Boat Brand Salt Codfish. Frank Cleveland worked there for a good many years. Also later it became the Doubledecker Restaurant, and then a candy shop operated by Roy Luce and his wife. Also one section at a later date was a fish market. It was operated by John Conroy. This building was later moved up the street to the Armsby Plumbing Shop location. I believe the Armsby Plumbing Shop was torn down - I can't quite recall actually what did happen to it. But anyhow the building was moved to that location. It was once George Anthony's Radio and TV Shop, also the Yankee Bazaar, and it is now the Great American Ice Cream Company, and the Hungry-U short-order restaurant, run by Cora Medeiros, I believe."242. "A Storage Shed"
"The next area there was a boat yard. That was operated by a Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton was from the Marine Hospital and he did operate this boat yard, but he was very, very badly crippled. He did build boats there, though, and seemed to get along okay that way. I remember seeing him with his - he had a big 'steam chest,' he called it, which was a long thing made of plank wood, and underneath of it he had a fire going, and pushing steam up in this so-called chest. It had the wood in there, and when it was steamed enough, he would take it out and put it on a form and bend it. And then when it dried out, why it stayed the shape of the form. What else was there? Oh - there used to be, before that there used to be a lumber yard, I believe it was Tilton's Lumber Yard. That was the first location of the Tilton Lumber Yard I believe."243. "The S. B. S. Fish Market on the wharf - Arthur Swift Mgr."
"A fish market. It was run by Art Swift."244. "The Ticket Office and Waiting Room on the wharf."
"The wharf. The man in charge in those days - he was called a wharfinger - was Ed Jones Smith. He was father of the famous Iceberg Smith, the man that charted the icebergs for the Coast Guard several years ago and got the name of Iceberg Smith. He was a gruff old man. Well I don't think he liked kids too much, as he used to chase us off the wharf. We used to like to get on there and leapfrog over the spiles that were in from the edge of the wharf, and he would come out and chase us away. So he wasn't too popular with the kids. The steamer ticket office then was in the right-hand side of the freight shed, which is down near the end of the wharf. "
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